Wednesday, July 5, 2017

Staunton, July 5 – A delegation of
Russia’s long-haul truckers met with legislators and officials to press their
case on the Plato fee system and other issues of concern to the drivers. In
addition, the truckers signaled that they will increasingly take part in
protests organized by others, even as the authorities continue their crackdown
against past and present strikers.

On Monday, representatives of the
long-haul truckers met in the Duma with the head of the legislature’s
transportation committee chairman, the official who oversees transportation
issues in the capital, and also officials from other ministries and agencies to
discuss a resolution to their demands (rosbalt.ru/russia/2017/07/04/1627994.html).

The drivers pointed out that “no
more than 20 percent” of the promises Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev made to
them in March have been fulfilled. Duma transport committee chairman Yevgeny
Moskvichev said he would personally intervene to see what could be done to
rectify that situation and plans to hold a meeting with Medvedev personally to
that end.

As they have in the past, the
truckers emphasized that if their demands are not addressed, they will seek to
expand their strike from the small pockets that remain to the size of the
strike that affected truck traffic across the country in April and May.But at the same time, they welcomed the fact
that officials were now talking to them.

Meanwhile, Russian courts are
handing out fines against truckers who took part in the work action earlier and
making it clear that more will be forthcoming if the truckers violate the
federal law on meetings and demonstrations in the future (e.g., newsmiass.ru/index.php?news=45965).

But perhaps the most important development
this week as far as this ongoing labor action is concerned is that drivers have
signaled that they intend to take part in protests organized by other groups in
order to spread the word about their problems and gain additional support (rosbalt.ru/piter/2017/07/04/1628077.html).